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Day: July 16, 2012

In a recent preview of Parade’s interview with Barbara and George H. W. Bush, there was this glorious gem:

“The rigidity of those pledges is something I don’t like,” Bush said of the ‘no-tax’ pedges. “The circumstances change and you can’t be wedded to some formula by Grover Norquist. It’s — who the hell is Grover Norquist,anyway?”

It’s not every day you see liberals sharing a Bush quote without ridiculing it and/or gagging in disgust, but that’s exactly what’s happening on Facebook right now. Nobody should be thatsurprised, though, as we’ve all witnessed the absolute nightmare that the GOP has morphed into; any sign of reason or logic – even from a Bush – is bound to seem downright extraordinary in contrast. Did anyone ever think we would actually see the day when Newt My-Own-Party-Kicked-Me-Out-Of-The-Clubhouse Gingrich was a serious Republican candidate for President? The party of “family values” actually welcomed this scumbag fraud who cheated on his cancer-survivor wife with open arms! Of course, once you remember that “family values” is actually just a dog-whistle to the ‘Gawd Hates Fags’ constituency, it makes a tad more sense…

So, this quote is my gift to you, reasonable readers! Enjoy it, relish it; try not to feel too let down when you find out that GHWB actually once signed the same damned pledge in question.

Oh, one more thing, just for a laugh:

BB: He may have talked to you about things, but you never advised.
GB: Oh, yeah, we’d talk about things. He never said the “Dad, what do I do now?” kind of thing.

…of course he didn’t! We all know Cheney ‘wore the pants‘ in that administration.

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DRIP DRIP DRIP – Bloomberg’s title is spot on. It goes on to say, in essence, that Romney’s type of business experience doesn’t equate to the type of management skills needed to be President of the United States.

Mitt Romney touts his business acumen and job-creation record as a key qualification for being the next U.S. president.What’s clear from a review of the public record during his management of the private-equity firm Bain Capital from 1985 to 1999 is that Romney was fabulously successful in generating high returns for its investors. He did so, in large part, through heavy use of tax-deductible debt, usually to finance outsized dividends for the firm’s partners and investors.

When some of the investments went bad, workers and creditors felt most of the pain.

What’s less clear is how his skills are relevant to the job of overseeing the U.S. economy, strengthening competitiveness and looking out for the welfare of the general public, especially the middle class.Thanks to leverage, 10 of roughly 67 major deals by Bain Capital during Romney’s watch produced about 70 percent of the firm’s profits. Four of those 10 deals, as well as others, later wound up in bankruptcy.

It’s worth examining some of them to understand Romney’s investment style at Bain Capital.

(Anthony Luzzatto Gardner works at Palamon Capital Partners, a private equity fund based in London, and was director of European affairs in the U.S. National Security Council in 1994-95. The opinions expressed are his.

1. In an interview with Fox Business Network’s Neil Cavuto, Romney, said of his tax returns “We have of course released all of the financial statements that are required by law and then released two years of tax returns.”

In reality, he has only released his tax returns for one full year.

2. Also on Fox Business, Romney said his tax disclosures included “the same information” John Kerry released during his 2004 campaign.

In reality, that is completely false. During his presidential run eight years ago, Kerry released five years of tax returns, and during his Senate campaigns, made a habit of releasing several years worth of tax documents as part of his commitment to disclosure.

3. In response to a question about the tax code, Romney argued, “For me … this campaign is about the middle class, and about the poor. It’s not about the rich. The rich are going to do fine, whoever is elected.”

First, Romney intends to give the wealthy a massive tax cut on top of their existing massive tax cut AND what about Romney’s now infamous quote of February that he’s “not concerned about the very poor.”

4. At a fundraiser in Montana, Romney told supporters, “The great majority of small business — 54% of American workers work in businesses taxed as individuals. So when the president wants to raise taxes on individuals as he’s proposed from 35% to 40%, he kills jobs. If your priority is crushing people, vote for him.”

Only about 3% of American small businesses would be affected by the higher rate, and there is no evidence to suggest Clinton-era top rates on the wealthy “kills jobs”.

5. In response to a reporter’s question about health care, Romney said, “You know, I’ve spoken about health care from the day we passed it in — in Massachusetts and people said, is this something that you’d apply at the federal level? And I said no.”

There are entirely too many news videos and articles out there demonstrating the opposite to hope to list them all.

6. At a town-hall meeting in Grand Junction, Colorado, Romney claimed Obama is “putting money into energy companies, solar and wind energy companies that end up making their products outside the United States.”

This is completely false.

7. Romney also claimed, “This president has increased the rate of new major regulations by about threefold over his predecessor.”

In reality, Obama approved fewer regulations in his first three years in office than Bush did in his first three years.

8. Romney went on to say he’s “going to get rid of ObamaCare” so the government won’t have to borrow more money.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Affordable Care Act will save over $100 billion over the next decade, and over $1 trillion in the decade after that. So, Romney has it completely backwards as in reality – we would need to borrow more money if he does “get rid of Obamacare.”

9. He added that “dreams are being crushed when taxes go up and up and up on job creators.”

Taxes haven’t gone up; they’ve gone down. In fact, Americans’ federal tax burden has down and down and down, reaching a 30-year low after Obama cut taxes in 2009.

10. He also said “no, no, no” to the notion that he would “cut” Medicare.

Romney endorsed Paul Ryan’s House Republican Budget plan, which ends the Medicare program and replaces it with a private voucher scheme.

SPECIAL ONGOING BONUS LIE: I did not have anything to do with Bain Capital after February 1999.

The only question now is whether he lied to the American people or to the American government through felonious SEC filings, etc. …more to come out this week……